The Mega Test

NOTE: In late November and early December of 1999, the
Mega Test was compromised in high-visibility public forums,
such that I no longer feel it is appropriate to host the test
on this website.

The following is modified from Scot Morris's introduction
to the Mega Test, in Omni magazine, Games column,
April 1985, p. 128:

Most intelligence (or I.Q.) tests are designed so that
average people get average scores, clustered around the
midpoint I.Q. of 100. The tests are most powerful at
their middle ranges, where the difference between an I.Q.
of 100 and 105 may be a matter of several questions on
the test itself. But at their upper ends, the tests don't
seem to discriminate nearly as well -- the five-point
difference between I.Q. scores of 145 and 150, say, may
translate into raw-score differences of only one or two
test questions.

There have been various tests devised over the years
that make fine distinctions in the intellectual
stratosphere. The idea is to make a test so difficult
that geniuses will get average scores, and only
supergeniuses will be able to achieve the highest scores.

Various high-I.Q. organizations have been established
over the years. Mensa, the most famous group, is open to
one person in 50 -- that is, people in the upper 2
percent of the population (98th percentile). The Top One
Percent Society and Intertel have cutoffs at the 99th
percentile, and the One-in-a-Thousand and the Triple Nine
Societies have cutoffs at the 99.9th percentile. The
Prometheus Society shoots for 1 in 30,000. But the most
restrictive group is the Mega Society, which is
theoretically limited to one person in a million (the
99.9999th percentile).

The founder of Mega and the author of one of its
admissions tests is Ronald Hoeflin, of New York. At Omni
Magazine's request, Hoeflin split his original long-form
test into two parts of 48 questions each. One part,
called the Mega Test, originally appeared in Omni
(April, 1985, Games column). The other part appeared in
the Omni I.Q. Quiz Contest, complete with answers
(Marilyn Mach vos Savant, 1985; Published by McGraw-Hill
Company, New York; Copyright by Omni Publication
International, Ltd., and Marilyn Mach vos Savant, ISBN
0-07-039377-X).

Hoeflin estimates that the Mega Test has a floor of
100 (which means that if you get no questions right, your
I.Q. is somewhere below 100) and a ceiling of 190+. At Omni's
request, prior to its publication in the magazine, the
test was administered to more than 150 people -- all
members of the major high-I.Q. societies, in order to
show, for example, that Mega members score higher than
members of Prometheus, who score higher than members of
Triple Nine, and so on.

1Of the test's
48 questions, 10 correct corresponds to an I.Q. of 133,
the cutoff for membership in Mensa (although Mensa does
not accept results of unsupervised tests like the Mega);
14 right, an I.Q. of 138, qualifies one for membership in
the Top One Percent Society; 24 right, an I.Q. of 150,
qualifies for the One-in-a-Thousand Society, 36 right, an
I.Q. of 164, qualifies for the Prometheus Society, and 43
right, or an estimated I.Q. of 177, is the cutoff for
joining the Mega Society.

One of the Omni readers who scored highest on the Mega
Test was John H. Sununu, then the governor of New Hampshire,
and later Chief of Staff under President Bush. His score of
44 correct gave him an estimated I.Q. of 180 (achievable by
approximately one in 3 million). Marilyn vos Savant scored 46
(I.Q. of 186) on her first attempt. Two others have scored 46
on their first attempt (Note that Ron now specifies that only
one attempt is allowed). About 3 people have scored 47, but
only on a second attempt. This includes Eric Hart. "Eric
Hart" turned out to be a pseudonym for an individual who
scored 42 on his first attempt of the Mega Test [Ron Hoeflin,
in a letter to me, made the distinction between first and
second attempts of Eric Hart]. About 3 people have scored 45
right, including Steve Schuessler (who worked at NASA).
Sununu's score of 44 has been tied by 3 or 4 other people so
far, including Rick Rosner, who edited the Mega Society
journal, Noesis. Of the three highest scores (46 right), two
are women.

In reply to a letter I wrote to him, Chris Langan, the
alter-ego of Eric Hart, has written that he sees no reason to
conceal his identity any longer. It is his contention that
his score of 47 could (or should) be counted as a first
attempt, since his test-taking strategy was to minimize the
effort and time required achieve the mega-level, which was 42
right in the original Omni magazine introduction to
the Mega Test. One of my comments to him was:

"Your explanation of Eric's test-taking strategy
is interesting; I suspect that few people who scored in
this range followed the same strategy of maximizing the
score-to-time-spent ratio with the goal of achieving a
score of at least 42 correct. For those who are able, I
would think there would be a powerful motivation to
achieve the highest score possible, period."

His response was:

"As you speculate, the same mathematics [game or
decision theory] can also be used to justify trying for
the highest possible score. Mathematical expectation, as
expressed by the gain/cost ratio, allows "gain"
and "cost" to be defined in various ways. If
one takes great pleasure in the solution of IQ test
problems or in (meaningless) competition with other
testees, then one might regard every minute spent on such
a test as emotionally "gainful." And if one has
nothing better to do anyway, the cost to one's other
pursuits may be small. This can result in a higher
perceived gain/cost ratio for solving as many problems as
possible, at least for idle puzzle addicts."

1
The raw score equivalent IQ's are from Ron Hoeflin's sixth
norming. The original column by Scot Morris read as follows:

Of the test's 48 questions: 8 correct
corresponds to an I.Q. of 134, the cutoff for membership
in Mensa; 22 right, and I.Q. of 150, qualifies one for
membership in the Triple Nine Society; 33 or above,
corresponding to a 164 I.Q., qualifies one for membership
in the Prometheus Society; 42 right, or an estimated I.Q.
of 176, is the cutoff for joining the Mega Society.

The Titan Test

The Titan Test is a more difficult twin to the Mega Test.
It consists of the best problems from six preliminary tests
that were tried out on volunteers between 1985 and 1988. The
May 14, 1997 issue of The Wall Street Journal2 reports that "Rick
Rosner, a TV writer, bar bouncer, nude model [is] the only
person to get a perfect score on Dr. Hoeflin's latest test [I
am informed that the test referred to is the Titan, which is
no longer the latest test -- DTM]."

The Ultra Test

Third in the series of tests that Ron Hoeflin has
designed. First indications are that this test has a floor of
about 100 I.Q. and a ceiling of about 180, which makes it
slightly easier than the Mega or Titan and accessible to a
wider group of people.

The Hoeflin Power Test

Combines the best problems from the Mega, Titan, and Ultra
Tests, while omitting the verbal analogies and number
sequences. Non-native English speakers may thus prefer this
test to the others (and it can be more readily translated, if
needed). Also, this test provides a legitimate avenue for
resubmitting answers to problems on the other tests (as long
as the test taker believes the Hoeflin Power Test is still a
valid measure of his intelligence). So far (as of January
2001), the high scorer on the Power Test has been David Michael
Fabian of Buffalo/Houston.

09/04/06 Added links to alliqtests.com and giqtest.com
07/09/06 Removed Paul Cooijmans's "Final Test" and "Test to End All Tests" at the author's
request.
07/09/06 Added Robert Lato's Logicaus Strictimanus 24
07/09/06 Added Jonathan Wai's Strict Logic Sequences Examination - Forms I and II
09/17/05 Ron is again scoring the Mega Test, Ultra Test, and Power Test, for $50.
08/18/05 Titan Test scoring fee is now $50.
04/24/04 Chris Cole wrote to me: "As you know the Mega Society has been looking around for
a new entrance test now that the Mega Test has been compromised. We’re currently
using the Titan Test but I fear that it will also be compromised in the future.
Accordingly, some members of the Society have been working on a cheat-resistant test
that can be administered online. It has several cheat-resistant features, one of
which is that it never asks the same question twice. It is currently in a very
preliminary stage, but you can take a look at it at www.mental-testing.com. The
test is adaptive in the sense that it adjusts your score as more people take it.
This is because the estimated difficulty of the questions is changed as more people
take the test. I wonder if you’d be willing to help us get some sample test takers
by featuring it on your site?
04/12/03 Ron writes: "I am no longer going to score the Ultra Test or the Hoeflin Power
Test, but am still willing to score the Titan Test and Mega Test. I am lowering
the scoring fee for the latter two from $30 to $25, payable to 'Ronald K. Hoeflin.'
Those requesting a copy of the Mega Test should send $25 with their request for
the copy rather than waiting to pay if and when they send their answers. The
Mega Society, One-in-a-Thousand Society, and Top One Percent Society all accept
the Titan Test for admission purposes but only the latter two societies accept
the Mega Test for admission."
09/24/01 Ron writes: "The lower scoring fee of $20 for my tests does not seem to be stimulating
much interest, so please raise the fee to $30 per test."
07/30/01 My email address is changing to "miyaguch at eskimo dot com"
05/20/01 Tommy Smith has retired the OCIP
04/07/01 Added Mega Test Score Interpretation Booklet (first norm)
04/05/01 Ron Hoeflin asked me to lower the advertised fee on each of his tests to $20.
03/05/01 I am reducing my activity on this site to bare minimum.
02/25/01 Added link to Brain Board 3
02/23/01 Added link to BrainBoard Continued's new location
02/23/01 Changed link to Glia brochure; added link to GliaWeb
02/23/01 Paul Cooijmans has a new email address
02/02/01 Added link to Bill Bultas's Difficult Analogies test
02/02/01 Added link to Noesis-E
02/02/01 Added link to Mega HIQ Girls
01/24/01 Luminary Society appears to be gone
01/18/01 Added Laurent Dubois's 9 I 6
01/18/01 Paul Cooijmans has an email address now
01/08/01 Added link to Vitruvian Society
01/08/01 Added link to Inner Sanctum
10/31/00 Added link to an additional Mega Society Page (with online issues of Noesis)
10/29/00 Added link to Nathan Haselbauer's NYC High IQ Society Membership Exam
10/28/00 Added link to Nicolas-Elena's Tests
10/28/00 Added Robert Lato's Logima Strictica 36
10/14/00 Paul Cooijmans is feeling better
10/13/00 Moved "Beta Test" information to the Tests section
10/13/00 Added link to UltraHIQ
10/07/00 Added Beta test Rasch analysis
10/06/00 Added Beta test score comparability with SAT
10/06/00 Added Greg Grove's Mysterium
10/06/00 Added 1966-68 ACT information
09/26/00 Added Beta test factor analysis
09/12/00 Added Beta test discrimination plots
09/10/00 Added Beta test correlation with SAT
08/22/00 Added Norming #2 of the Langdon Adult Intelligence Test
08/22/00 Added SesquIQ site
08/22/00 Added the Marilyn is Right! page
08/05/00 Added Easy Factor 2.5 and Rasch 1.0 programs
08/02/00 Added Bob Seitz' Vocabulary Page
07/31/00 Added Bob Seitz' page
07/30/00 Added Supplementary Statistical Data for the LAIT, Norming #2
07/29/00 Copied Herb Weiner's "Marilyn is Wrong!" site link to the main page.
07/29/00 Added link to Thomas Lisa's song, "Questions for Marilyn"
07/29/00 Added results of Power Test (46 scores)
07/29/00 Added Grady Towers's "The Empty Promise"
07/29/00 Added posthumous letter from Grady Towers -- my last from him
07/29/00 Added link to Scientific American's special issue on intelligence
07/23/00 Removed tests by Paul Cooijmans at his request. Paul is experiencing health
problems and wishes to cut down on his incoming mail.
07/20/00 Added link to Queendom.com's "Culture-Fair IQ Test"
07/20/00 Added link to Nik Lygeros' M-classification
07/06/00 Removed Greg Grove's Ready Reckoner at his request
06/27/00 Added direct link to Xavier Jouve's "Encephalist IQ T1 revised" test.
06/27/00 Added link to the Luminary Society
06/04/00 The Giga Society now has an official web site
06/03/00 Added link to Geniusweb: (Purported) Geniuses on the Web
06/03/00 Added link to High IQ email society
06/03/00 Added link to the Minzar Society (for Christians)
05/30/00 Re-added link to Tommy Smith's and Joel Willis' OCIP, which is hosted
on the Cerebrals.com site.
05/30/00 Added link to tests by Xavier Jouve
05/23/00 Added link to "The IQs of Eminent Geniuses" page, with corrections
for the Flynn Effect.
05/23/00 The Poetic Genius Society continues with approval from Greg Grove
04/30/00 Added Paul Cooijmans's Test for ESP (with statistics)
04/26/00 Linked to Grady Towers's "Theories of Multiple Intelligence"
04/25/00 Greg Grove has discontinued the Poetic Genius Society
04/18/00 Tommy Smith has closed MentalMadness.
04/09/00 Added link to the Sigma Society. Thanks to Barry Howard for the
information. (Barry's High IQ site)
03/25/00 Added followup to Grady Towers's "On using multiple tests for high
IQ society admissions."
03/01/00 Added link to Justin Chapman's page (who is 6.5 years old).
03/01/00 Added 1999 ACT national and state scores. Thanks to Mike Hess
for the link.
03/01/00 Added data from 1972-73 GRE. Thanks to Mike Hess
02/20/00 Added The Final Test Statistical report, June 1999
02/19/00 Added TFG Short Form Statistical report, June 1999
02/16/00 Added link to SAT/ACT comparison (College Board).
02/14/00 Added Mental Madness's Online Store
02/12/00 Removed Boffin Board link (http://dewell.com/boffinboard/)
(has been broken for a long time).
02/01/00 Linked to Paul Maxim's website
01/25/00 Added link to Kevin Langdon's Polymath Systems Home Page (still in
skeleton form).
01/22/00 Added Enigmus's Discussion Forum; Perception Test removed and replaced
with The Chaos
01/19/00 Added link to Cerebrals.com
01/19/00 Changed link to Mega Society Page (West Coast). Thanks once more
to Barry Howard for the information. (Barry's High IQ site)
01/18/00 Added results of Hoeflin's "Smartest Person in the World Contest"
01/11/00 Added explanations for the compromise and removal of the Mega Test.
01/11/00 Paul Cooijmans revised the TFG (long form).
01/06/00 Added Peter Schmies' Quantity Quiz
01/06/00 Added link to the Mega Foundation's Ultranet (Global Ultra HiQ Network).
01/03/00 Paul Cooijmans dropped his idea for recruiting new testers.